On 08/01/2004, at 4:23 PM, grant beattie wrote:
>> - Introduce a new variable, RECOMMENDED, that has
>> the same syntax as DEPENDS.
>
> the word "RECOMMENDED" in this context, at least to me, says that
> the dependency is optional but recommended (ie. the pkg would build
> without it), which isn't exactly what you're getting at. I don't have
> a better word suggestion, but I'm sure there is one.
Well, the idea is that RECOMMENDED works in conjunction with
DEPENDS. I.e., you would still have (need) a proper DEPENDS
line as well. E.g., for tiff you would have
BUILDLINK_DEPENDS.tiff= tiff>=3.5.4
BUILDLINK_RECOMMENDED.tiff= tiff>=3.6.1
The first line sets the (technical) dependency, the second
line sets the recommendation (if you want to make sure
binaries are consistent).
> there was talk about introducing optional dependencies some time ago.
> I fear that "recommended" and "optional" having different fundamental
> meanings would cause chaos. :)
I think the name for that was "SUGGESTED". And yes, that
would have different semantics.
I don't mind different names if somebody comes up with
something. OTOH, as long as there is proper documentation,
I don't think too strongly about the names.
Cheers
,
Rene